I am new to Linux, i have been using Unix (logging into servers to code) and recently Fedora Core 2 in the Computer Architecture labs at my school and i wanted to run it at home.

Well i installed Fedora Core 3 and i have went through a couple of updates so far and two times it said there was a kernal update and that was an update a blocked by default and had to specifically select it so i selected it, so now im running Fedora Core 1.6.9-1.724_FC3
Now my question is, is it recommended to always update the Kernal when there is an update available?

Also another question is about the Fedora Up2date, now the other day it said i had 3 updates and when i ran up2date it said i was all updated but that icon kept flashing red with the exclamation mark saying there are 3 updates so i read that i should just type "yum update" and this worked and updated and now the thing wasnt flashing red anymore and it was checked so i was all updated. But now today the thing was flashing saying there are more updates so i went directly to using yum update cause it seemd faster, But it did not do anything and i still needed the updates?? so whats going on? i used the up2date and it updated correctly and everything is fine. So whats the deal? should i run up2date first and if that doesnt work then i should run yum update? shouldnt there just be one technique that would work for updating all the time?

My two cents:

Quoting from the Fedora project page:

This means that Fedora core is a testing bed that should not be confused with an enterprise 'stable' environment.

This is both and advantage and disadvantage depending on your point of view:

An advantage because in exchange of shorter release cycles, we, the users, have agreed to be the testers for that 'new technology'.

A disadvantage because it should not be used as a 'production' platform.

Well, now to your question. There isn't a hard technical guideline about updating your kernel.

If it is stable for you for everything you use, why update?.

Why update? well, New kernels may include security fixes plus you may need them eventually to run a newer version of something AND you would be keeping your side of the bargain: be te testing ground.

Hey! that does not mean that FC is not stable, just that you should not consider it to be stable.

Regarding the question about up2date/yum:

You will find that not that many people consider up2date very stable or fast.

90% of the time I use yum to update. I have had the same issue as you describe and then I just do as you did, run up2date.

My advice: Run yum first and if for whatever reason it does not update something, run up2date.

If you have added additional repositories to yum please note that those won't be picked up by the RedHat network icon. So you'll have to run yum update every now an then even if the icon is not blinking.